Dear Civil Resistance
Supporters,Our direct action yesterday at the military
recruiters office yesterday was a tremendous success! We succeeded on
many accounts--shutting down the recruitment offices of all four
recruitment centers (Army, Navy, Marines, Air force), establishing our
right to protest at a "private property" shopping center without
interference by law enforcement, and very effectively injecting our
message into the mainstream media through both graphic images and
powerful spoken statements of the reality of the war and the deceptions
of the recruiters--we were the lead story on the three major TV networks
in Eugene!

BRINGING THE WAR
BACK HOME

Eugene resisters shut down recruitment
center, inject mainstream media with graphic images of the war

*March 18th 2005*

*Civil resisters from the Civil
Resistance study group that have been meeting at the Friend’s Meeting
house in Eugene led 70 people in a successful direct action at the
recruitment offices of the four major branches of the military service:
Air Force, Army, Navy and Marines.*

*In a dignified, inspired example of
classic non-violent struggle, and armed with graphic photo enlargements
of the human casualties of the war, American and Iraqi, as well as
thoroughly researched material that exposed the lies of our government
about the realities of the war and the recruitment process, the
resisters confronted the military recruiters and the mainstream media.
While acting from a place of deep compassion and respect for the human
dignity for those who disagree with us, we achieved three major
objectives with startling success; we shut down the recruitment center
for the day; we succeeded in injecting into the mainstream media graphic
images and powerful verbal messages capable of transforming public
opinion about the war; and we established our First Amendment rights to
demonstrate at a supposedly “private property” shopping center without
interference from law enforcement.*

*The action was executed after a month of
meticulous planning, many meetings, civil disobedience training, copious
research and a tremendous amount of hard work and long hours by any of
the resisters. We organized the Civil Resistance study group around the
idea that the time had come for action, in addition to ongoing legal and
conventional methods of resisting the war. Our group studied successful
non-violent resistance movements from the American civil rights
struggle, the South African struggle against apartheid, the Indian
independence movement under Gandhi’s leadership, the Polish Solidarity
movement that overthrew the communist regime, and the Danish resistance
to the Nazis in WWII.

*We made the decision to confront
military recruiters and the mainstream media at their offices in the
Santa Clara shopping center in north Eugene with enlarged graphic photos
of the human cost of the war, images not shown in the mainstream
American press, as well as hard facts we hadresearched about the
realities of military life and the lack of veterans benefits for those
returning from the war. Many of us took a thoroughcivil disobedience
training, and we were prepared to be arrested and go to jail. We
believed that since the shopping center is "private property,” that
private security would tell us to leave and call the police when we
refused, and that the police would then have to arrest us for criminal
trespass.

*Our strategy was to create the classic
confrontation of non-violent resistance—to create a situation in which
the authorities must either show their hand and repress us by violent
means including arrest, or they would be forced to back down and allow
us to break the law, admitting they cannot control us. We also wanted to
present a situation in which the media would be forced to show the
violent disturbing images of the war if they wished to cover us. As long
as we were non-violent AND courageously stuck to our plan, we believed
we would create a
win-win situation—if they arrested us, we would win by attracting public
sentiment for our cause; if they did not arrest us, we would show we
could break the law without consequences, thereby emboldening future
protest.

*Following Gandhi’s idea to tell your
“opponent” what you are going to do ahead of time, we sent out press
releases twice in the week prior to the action, to the media and to the
three law enforcement agencies in the area—the Eugene Police,
Springfield Police, and Lane County Sheriffs, including the fact that we
would be performing civil disobedience and were fully prepared to be
arrested. The press release included the date and time of our action,
but not the location, with the stipulation that the location would be
revealed one hour before the
action started. We had a meeting with Lt. Pete Kerns of the Eugene
Police Department at his request, to go over our plans and review
possible police responses, with our attorney present and a tape recorder
running. We made it clear to him that we were committed to non-violent
methods and were trained in civil disobedience, and that among our group
would be some elderly, some children, and many others with video
cameras. We questioned him in detail about police policy about the use
of “non-lethal” weapons such as tear gas, pepper spray, rubber bullets,
and bean bag projectiles against non-violent protesters.

*Many people in the group worked many
late nights to create very polished written materials for the press
packets, and packets to give to the recruiters, and we created the
placards showing the large graphic images of severely injured Iraqi
children being held by their anguished parents, American soldiers with
missing limbs, anguished relatives ofdead GI’s at their funerals, and
the like.

*The plan called for six of us to be the
“advance team” who would go into the recruiters offices with the packets
of written material and copies of some of the photos we had prepared,
and go over the material with them, then ask them to sign an agreement
that they would present this material to every potential recruit who
came in to see them. The issues we wanted to raise were the lack of
health care and education benefits for people in the military, the
sexual abuse and rape of women in the military, and the lack of a true
portrayal of a career that
involved killing people, including women, children, and the elderly.
This would serve to educate the recruiters, and force them to either
practice full disclosure with potential recruits as we intended, or to
refuse and thereby admit that they were hiding the truth. While this was
occurring, the rest of our comrades would be organizing the placards
with the photographic enlargements bearing captions like, “You won’t see
this on NBC,” and “This is what collateral damage looks like,” for a
dramatic display to the media and the public in front of the recruiters
offices.

*We received many calls from the media
expressing great curiosity about our planned action, trying to get us to
reveal the location, including an editor of the Register Guard and DJ’s
from KUGN, KLCC, and KWVA. In that way, we were able to get out the
message we wanted before the action, but keep up the suspense about an
action that no one outside of our supporters knew the location where it
would occur. We knew we were doing something that would have an impact,
if the press and the police were COMING TO US for information.

*The four main branches of the military
have offices together at the Santa Clara shopping center—Army, Marines,
Navy, and Air Force. Our advance scout determined one hour before the
action that three of the four were open at 10:30, one hour before the
main action was to begin. Some of us believed we saw plainclothes police
in the area, but there was no obvious police presence. The media began
to arrive at 11:00. There was no sign of private security personnel.

*At 11:15, we completed our final
instructions to the whole group of resisters and supporters, which
numbered 70 people, and the advance team of six people took the
recruiter packets and walked with determination to the recruiters
offices. We found that they had locked down all the doors so no one,
including potential recruits, could enter. We peered in the doors, and
found only one Marine sitting in the back of his office. We knocked on
the door. He slowly, reluctantly came to the door and unlocked it, and
stood in the doorway blocking our entrance. I introduced myself, shook
his hand, and explained to him that we wanted to talk with him about the
recruitment process, and wanted to give him a chance to address our
concerns. The media converged on us immediately and we had six or more
microphones thrust in our faces. The marine became nervous and moved to
pull the door closed, but I stuck my foot in the door to prevent him
from closing it. He said that he would not talk to us and wanted to
close the door, and I continued to explain what we were there for, and
opened the packet and began going over the issues involved, the media
catching every word. He then demanded I get out of the doorway or he
would call the police. I continued talking about the issues, and he
responded by saying “That’s it, I’m calling the police,” and left the
doorway to go to the phone.

*The first major decision of the action
had arrived—should we take advantage of the opportunity and enter the
office, risking arrest for a federal trespassing charge, before the main
media event we had planned had a chance to play out? We had made the
decision beforehand that we would risk arrest on the shopping center
sidewalk for a local criminal trespass charge, but not occupy the
offices or block the entrances involving a federal charge, as this might
be a felony (though we were advised by one attorney just an hour before
the action that this would
be a misdemeanor, though still a federal charge). I hesitated, I thought
about our agreement and the main body of our folks waiting to do the
main part of our action, and I decided to step out of the doorway. The
Marine immediately ran over and locked the door.

*The media asked, what would we do now?
We were prepared for this, and told them we would return another time to
deliver this information to the recruiters, “When they would let us in
and felt they did not have to hide from the truth.”

*The advance team returned to the staging
area to join the main group, and with “the undying love and devotion of
a mother for her child, and the fierceness of warriors defending their
homes,” we marched in single file, our placards turned out of sight, to
the area directly in front of the recruitment center. At the head of the
line, I saw people coming out from the shops, curious and a little
nervous. I walked right up to the two Indian fellows from the Indian
restaurant adjacent to the recruiters offices, shook their hands, and
explained that we were there to
peacefully protest the war. Their eyes were filled with tenderness as
they smiled, saying “Thank you! We support you! We support you!” As
Willow passed by them and they could see the placards, she noticed they
seemed particularly moved by the images of dark skinned women, like
them, clutching their maimed children.

*We lined up in a row, and then our media
spokesperson Karla Cohen announced to the press our “human slide show,”
that would show images of the war hidden from the American people and
potential recruits by the mainstream media and the recruiters. Silently,
one after another, we revealed the images. The public and reporters were
visibly shaken. The cameras rolled and clicked. We stood with resolute
determination and a solemn respect for the victims of this senseless
brutal war. When all of the 32 images were on display, Karla said, “We
want the American media to show the truth about the war, and we want the
recruiters to tell potential recruits the truth about what they are
getting themselves into.”

*Then we went down the line, and those of
us who wished to, made brief personal statements from their hearts about
what moved them to be there. Powerful statements came from our deepest
feelings and beliefs, tears were shed, and all who wanted to speak had
the opportunity to, and the media paid attention. I remember saying that
“We have full faith in the essential goodness and the conscience of the
American people, and if these images were shown in America’s livingrooms
every night, the war would be over in a week.” Several veterans spoke
eloquently, including Hank Dizney, who said the recruitment process was
deceptive and dishonorable, and that he resented this as an American
citizen. Gordi Albi, a representative of Faith in Action, an alliance of
several church groups and other spiritual traditions, said, “Ask the
recruiters how much commission they get for each person they sign up.”
Many more people
spoke eloquently and with tremendous emotion as we went down the line.
The recruiters had shut off the lights and either gone home or stayed
hidden in the back of their offices.

*It was time to declare our success. I
said to everyone present that we scored two victories today—we had shut
down the recruitment center (cheers went up!) and that we had succeeded
in establishing our right to protest at a “private property” shopping
center where we were told we would be arrested, and had therefore forced
the police to yield (more
cheers!).

*Later we were to discover even more
success from the action. Our action became the lead story on all three
major TV networks in Eugene, we received excellent coverage on radio
outlets, and we were the cover story in the City/Region section of the
following day’s Register Guard. The TV stations and the Register Guard
showed some of the graphic images we wanted to get in front of the eyes
of the public. And maybe best of all, we built a strong feeling of love
and solidarity among the people in our group, made new allies in the
public and the media, and experienced a well deserved feeling of
standing tall and acting on our convictions in the face of significant
risk to ourselves.

*The party that night at World Café,
where we watched a home video of the action made by John Melia, was one
of the greatest times I can ever recall. We won a victory today, a badly
needed victory in this struggle to save the soul of our nation, and my
goodness did it feel good.

*Come join us Monday nights at 8 pm at
the Friends Meeting House, 2274 Onyx St, Eugene, as we continue our
efforts to make history and stop the war.